Gallup Poll Shows Obama on Track, McCain Astray
The AP correspondent heard them. Did McCain? If so, he didn't respond. "Liar" or even "socialist" may be fair game in the modern toxic political environment, but even in 2008, "terrorist" is about a deep below the belt as you can get. It would seem that McCain, out of basic decency, would rebuke such shouts.
Obama has issued his share of negative attacks on McCain, so it works both ways. But at the same time, Obama consistently has expressed respect for McCain's courage as a war prisoner and for McCain's career of service, and Joe Biden gave McCain so much respect that Biden was satirized on Saturday Night Life. In exchange, McCain and Sarah Palin have belittled Obama personally. McCain have even snickered about Obama having been a community organizer, which in truth was the equivalent sacrifice of serving as a Peace Corps volunteer, except on the home front. When a self-proclaimed hockey mom giggles about an opponent serving as a community organizer, the shallowness is exposed.
Respect on one side, lack of respect on the other. Are Americans noticing? Could this be a reason that by winning uncommitted voters, Obama now has emerged with his largest lead? Wednesday's Gallup Poll daily tracking survey showed Obama with 52 percent, McCain 41 percent. Furthermore, Obama is moving ahead in key swing states. Some pundits suddenly are talking landslide.
"We've all heard what (Obama's) said. But it's less clear what's he's done, or what he will do," McCain told folks in the Keystone State, which is among about a half-dozen key swing states that he now must sweep, in order to just have a chance.
The first half of McCain's statement is key. Polling shows that people indeed have heard what Obama has said. Obama would gear his tax cuts from the bottom up, rather than following the three-decade pattern of top down that started with Ronald Reagan. Obama would strive to step out of the Iraq quagmire with at least some semblance of dignity. Obama would focus on national health care for people, rather than tax credits paid to insurance companies. Those are just three examples in which people have heard what Obama has said, because he has been consistent.
McCain, for all his experience, has been willy nilly. During the Pennsylvania rally, Palin repeated the long-standing Republican line that while Democrats are for big government, the GOP is for the little people. But within less than 3 minutes, McCain on the same stage was touting his "plan" for the big government to buy the little people's mortgages. Even the strongest McCain-Palin supporter would have to agree that this is a mixed message. To boot, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson says the "plan" that McCain describes is already present in the October 3 bailout package.
McCain then went on a diatribe against federal earmarks while Palin, Alaska's queen of the "Bridge to Nowhere" and other earmarks, stood behind and nodded in agreement. Again, a mixed message.
John McCain still has a window of opportunity to rescue his campaign. Obama's 11-percentage point lead occurred rapidly, and so it could evaporate with the same speed. But to make a comeback, McCain may have to take a lesson from Obama's playbook, by finally staying on point and making himself clear.
Meanwhile, the Jamacia Observer newspaper observes that McCain apparently did not learn a lesson from Hillary Clinton: When times are tough for people, negative personal attacks don't work quite so well.
SOURCES
usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-10-09-spending_N.htm
jamaicaobserver.com/editorial/html/20081009T000000-0500_141114_OBS
Published by Michael Thompson
Michael Thompson is a retired newspaper reporter who lives in Saginaw, Michigan. Main topics are political and social justice issues, with occasional escapism into sports and so forth. View profile
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6 Comments
Post a CommentExcellent report. I agree with Saul that some of the rhetoric is becoming dangerous. There are reports of some McCain/Palin supporters calling out for violence at these rallies and the candidates do not speak out against them. For a man who wants to bring Americans together and reach across the aisle he seems to be waging a scorched earth campaign without regard for the consequences. John McCain should put country first (ahead of his personal ambition and ego) and stop this divisive behavior before his supporters turn to physical violence instead of just threats.
(cont. from below) spurious innuendo, you become rabble...
There were even reports of racial "epithets" being hurled about Obama and, at one particular rally, toward a black cameraman. Then, just for the hell of it, they found the only black guy in Wisconsin that happens to be a Republican and, like many other black Republicans (you really only see them on television -- it's part of the 99% white Republican Party's integrated messag), gave him a microphone to beg McCain (and that certainly has lit up the internet in many black blogs) to attack Obama (another reason to burn up the internet). Harris (the guy's name) has become somewhat famous because of the sound bite. It's disgusting. And it's getting worse, although the McCain campaign said that most of their crowds are more restrained. Septegenarians usually are more restrained, true, but Palin and her redneck manerisms has brought out the rabble. Harris doesn't look like rabble and may be a well-intentioned guy, but when you sanction attacking another man's character with spurious innu
Great reporting again!
excellent recap. Hugs Mary
Excellent writeup. It's no surprise to me that Obama's ahead. People are looking for a leader who cares about everyone and Barack's community service work (among other things) that was laughed at for some reason, shows that he cares about the citizens of this country. :-)